It’s hard to describe a company worth billions as ‘scrappy,’ but that’s the image Apple has gained recently. To emphasize the point, a brand rating service Monday announced the iPad and iPhone maker was able to top rival Samsung despite a string of financial and competitive reversals. Apple’s brand value rose to $87 billion, up from $70 billion.

And according to Brand Finance, the Cupertino, California company also saw its brand rating slip from AAA+ to AAA. In addition, Ferrari – not Apple – was named the word’s most powerful brand…

With revenues in the tens of billions, Apple and Samsung are slugging it out for global brand supremacy and are vying with each other to create strong ‘customer love’ for their brands.

Apple’s brand is seen as sheltering the company, according to the branding firm.

Apple has lost “its competitive edge to Samsung in the wake of the launch of Galaxy S3, the most pre-ordered smartphone of all time,” according to the statement. Samsung saw its brand value increase by 54 percent to $20.6 billion.

Despite a raft of new product launches such as the new iPhone and iPad, the company continued to lose ground to Samsung and it was only its sheer size that helped Apple maintain its lead position over its smaller but more nimble South Korean rival.